Is Ebay Truly No Risk For Buyer?

One moral of the Graf Zeppelin story could be do not spend hundreds of dollars with a seller that has 7 feedbacks and a positive feedback rating of 88.9?

I really don't understand Willwood here (aside from why you'd give $200 to a guy with 7 feedback and bad rating!).

The 'stamp' you received is clearly a fake (and damaged one at that!) -- why even bother trying to return it?
(A disclaimer here -- I know nothing about US Zeppelins -- but anyone but a blind man can see that this is a fake. A really bad one).

Just sue for an immediate refund.

One clarification to Willwood42's post, Paypal no longer has a good relationship with ebay. While they were once a 'subsidiary' about two years ago (may have been at time of his purchase) they split and the relationship between the companies has been on the rocks ever since. I think that Willwood42 was extremely lucky in this case, the two companies are not on the same page anymore.

The lesson to this story is that you should know who you are buying from, this bit of ' ebay and/or Paypal' has my back is marketing nonsense. Yes, they might be willing to 'eat' some smaller purchases, but Willwood42's story serves as a clear warning to anyone who thinks this. I thank Willwood42 for posting this and wish all the other folks who have similar stories, but are too embarrassed to post them, would have the courage that Willwood42 has shown here.
Don

Common sense would say to avoid sellers with low or negative feedback, but if there are very strong buyer protections in place, then perhaps there is no risk should a seller not send an item or send an item not as described. Is it because of the ebay money back guarantee, that sellers with a higher than average amount of negative feedback are permitted to sell on ebay?

I have had items not delivered or received not as described from 99% positive feedback sellers.

Sometimes high positive feedback sellers have a no reserve auctions where an item with a fair market value of $100 item has an opening bid of $19.99 and there are no bidders with 5 minutes left in the auction. If I were to successfully be the only bidder on 10 of these auctions and let's say out of 10 of these auctions, the item never ships in 7 of them, and I have to open a case for item not received on each one, then I sure hope there is generous limit on the amount of cases a buyer can open for item not received before there are restrictions placed on the buyer.

If ebay is going to permit sellers with a lower than average percentage rate of positive feedback to sell on their site, then buyer protections should be generous if a buyer happens to buy from 3 low positive feedback sellers and endure an item not received or item not as described and then has to open 3 cases in a row for example.